Bomb kills 20, injures 40 at Pakistan election rally

A bomb killed at least 20 people and injured 40 others Friday during a rally in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, in the day’s second attack on a political event ahead of the July 25 election.

“Twenty people were killed in the blast and we fear this toll may rise,” Agha Umar Bungalzai, provincial home minister, told AFP, adding that more than 40 were wounded in Mastung town, near the provincial capital of Quetta.

Bungalzai also confirmed the explosion killed Siraj Raisani, who was running for a provincial seat with Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

“Mir Siraj Raisani succumbed to wounds while he was being shifted to Quetta,” he added.

The explosion comes hours after four people were killed and 39 injured when a bomb hidden inside a motorcycle detonated near a Pakistani politician’s convoy in the country’s northwest near the Afghan border.

The earlier blast, near the town of Bannu, was targeting the convoy of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) candidate Akram Khan Durrani, who survived the attack, police said.

Days earlier a bomb claimed by the Pakistani Taliban targeted a rally by the Awami National Party (ANP) in the city of Peshawar on Tuesday. Hospital officials said Friday that the toll in that attack had risen to 22.